Episode Summary

Buffy Summers is the Slayer, but after being expelled from her old high school for burning down the gym (it was full of vampires) she just wants to forget about her destiny and be a normal sixteen-year-old girl. She and her mother move from L.A. to Sunnydale, California. She now has a new school, new friends, and a chance to start over. But Sunnydale is on top of a Hellmouth -- a center of mystical convergence that draws evil and demonic forces -- and Buffy soon realizes that she will have to pick up her stakes and holy water in order to save her new friends.

A great start to an amazing series

The TV show's episodes starts off with the break in to the school and the first seen killing of the Hellmouth. Then starts the meeting of the first members of the scooby gang. The episode was impressive to all of the special effects and make-up to the vampires transforming and dying. Loved intro to Angel first meeting of Buffy. A kick into the head starts off a interesting relationship of Bangel.moreless

A very impressive start!

I am new to this show, and as a matter of fact, would probably have never heard of it if it were not for Ursula Buffay's porn film, "Buffay the Vampire Layer" on the show Friends. I was hoping for something interesting, as I share a fascinating for the supernatural, and the series premiere delivers wonderfully. The episode is funny, exciting, dark and even thrilling. The opening and closing scenes are unpredictable and the highlights of the episode. Great start and eager for more!moreless

it is really great start for the show that gave us 7 fantastic years of Buffyverse where many of us want to live and actually partly live in.

"In every generation there is a Chosen One. She but wait, no way. such girl as Buffy Summers can't be alone even in the first day in the new place -- Sunnydale High School. she immediately finds the friends: Willow -- too smart girl, Xander -- too funny guy, Cordelia -- too... (well, just too :), Angel -- too handsome vampire, and Giles -- too old librarian to hang out with the 16-year-olds :) and it's the beginning not only of the great show or of the war between Scoobies and forces of darkness, but it's the beginning of the "fantastic four's" friendship that will last till the end, it's the beginning of the pure love between the Slayer and the vampire that will lead to painful consequences. and it's really beautiful! it's something you've never seen before. it's something you will carry through the life. it's something you want so hard. and it gives the hope that we'll have it someday. it's the beginning, the very powerful one, that made fans all over the world watch every single episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and re-watch the show again, and again, and again... FAVE SCENE: Buffy/Willow first talk on the school yard. FAVE QUOTE: Buffy (to Giles): Prepares me for what? For getting kicked out of school? For losing all of my friends? For having to spend all of my time fighting for my life and never getting to tell anyone because I might endanger them? Go ahead! Prepare me.moreless

"In every generation there is a Chosen One. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness. She is The

Those are the first words of Buffy's first episode, delivered in a breathless rush that precedes the series' opening scene, in which a meek teenage girl roams the halls of a darkened high school with a slicked-up lothario, then turns the tables on him by pulling a monster face and chomping down on his neck. Five minutes into Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Joss Whedon's already developing themes: high school is dangerous, desire is dangerous, and beautiful girlswell, you get the idea. Much of "Welcome To The Hellmouth" is dedicated to introducing the cast and the premise, which Whedon and director Charles Martin Smith accomplish fairly fleetly. Our heroine, Buffy Summers, arrives for her first day at a new high schoolwhile the soundtrack plays a song with the lyric "we are the anti-heroes"and from her mom's worried tone and Buffy's first meeting with the principal, we quickly learn that she was kicked out of her last school for torching a gym full of vampires. When in history class, while the teacher lectures on ancient plagues, Buffy has her first encounter with curt, curvy popular chick Cordelia, who initially seems sweet and helpful, until she starts picking on the two people who were first friendly to Buffy at Sunnydale: smart-mouthed slacker Xander and sweet, wallflowery Willow. It's a dilemma for Buffy, right off the bat: Her mother wants her to fit in at her new school, and the easiest way for her to fit in would be to click with Cordelia's crowd, which Buffy is certainly pretty enough and hip enough to do. But she also been gifted with special powers that require to take a stand against evil, and while Cordelia's not exactly demonic, she's certainly not that nice. Once we meet the last major cast player, Rupert Gilesthe school librarian, who doubles as Buffy's "watcher" and an expert in all things supernaturalwe're plunged into the plot, involving a clan of vampires preparing for "the harvest" by bringing young bodies down to their pasty master. The best place to find those bodies is The Bronze, a nightclub with post-grunge bands playing nightly. Drawn into the danger at The Bronze, Buffy manages to embarrass herself in front of Cordelia, then she fails to keep Xander's friend Jesse from getting vampire-ized while she goes scrambling after Willow, who's picked the wrong time to get flirty in a room full of predators. There are a few kinks with "Welcome To The Hellmouth," including some dialogue that sounds more faux-clever than actually clever, and an overall flatness to the action/horror sequences that will carry over into Episode Two. But there are some poignant moments too, like when Buffy first meets Angel, the mysterious stranger who we'll learn in "The Harvest" is a vampire tortured by a conscience. And I especially liked the scene where Buffy prepares to go clubbing and mutters to herself, "I used to be so good at this," already mourning the normal teenage life she's lost for good. So, all in all, a good introduction to the show, establishing the characters and the premise quickly and cleanly, before ending on a cliffhangermoreless

"Live for today, because tomorrow you might be dead"

In this episode, we are introduced to new girl Buffy Summers, who also happens to have a secret life as the one and only Vampire Slayer. As far as pilots go, pretty good! The characters are introduced in a fun way that holds true throughout the series (thankfully they went with this version, and not the unaired one- eek!). The fast-paced and witty dialogue is impressive, unlike most pilots. Definitely love this one way more than the unaired version. A great balance of action and comedy, however, I found it to be a bit more icky than future episodes. The underground layer with its pools of blood, for example, were a bit much.moreless

Goof: The bite marks Darla leaves on the boy's neck run horizontally (when standing) and due to the shape of the neck and the location of the wound, a bite like that should be impossible. A bite would have to be vertical up the neck or close to vertical, and the way Darla bit him would have produced close to vertical marks anyway.

Goof: In the library, Giles stacks several books in Buffy's arms while telling her about all the different creatures that actually exist. He stacks them so that the bindings of all the books are facing Buffy. Right before she gives them back to Giles, the bindings are facing Giles. As she hands them over to Giles, the bindings are once again facing Buffy.

Xander: Hey, I hope he's not a vampire, because then you might have to slay him.Buffy: Was there a school bulletin? Was it in the newspaper? Is there anyone in this town who doesn't know I'm the Slayer?

Giles: Into each generation, a Slayer is born. One girl in all the world, a Chosen One. One born with the... Giles and Buffy: ... the strength and skill to hunt the vampires... Buffy: ... to stop the spread of their evil. Blah, blah. I've heard it, okay?

Buffy: (to Giles about the dead boy found in the locker) It's the weirdest thing. He's got two little holes in his neck and all the blood has been drained. Isn't that bizarre? Aren't you just going, "Ooooh"?

Xander: Oh, me and Buffy go way back. Old friends, very close. Then there's that period of estrangement where I think we were both growing as people. But now here we are, like old times. I'm quite moved.Jesse: Is it me, or are you turning into a babbling idiot?Xander: No, it's, uh, it's not you.Buffy: Well, it's nice to meet you guys, I think.Jesse: Well, you know, we wanted to welcome you. Make you feel at home.Unless you have a scary home...

Buffy: It's my first day! I was afraid that I was gonna be behind in all of my classes, that I wouldn't make any friends, that I would have last month's hair! I didn't think there'd be vampires on campus. And I don't care. Giles: Then why are you here? Buffy: To tell you that... I don't care, which... I don't, and... have now told you, so... bye.

Buffy: You know, I just wanted to start over, be like everybody else. Have some friends, you know, maybe a dog. But, no. You had to come here. You couldn't go suck on some other town.Darla: Who are you?Buffy: Don't you know?Luke: (grabbing Buffy from behind and tossing her) I don't care.

Buffy: There's one.Giles: Where?Buffy: Right there, talking to that girl.Giles: You don't know…Buffy: Oh, please! Look at his jacket. He's got the sleeves rolled up, and the shirt? Deal with that outfit for a moment.Giles: It's dated?Buffy: It's carbon dated. Trust me, only someone who had lived underground for ten years would think that was still the look.

Buffy: I didn't say I'd never slay another vampire. It's not like I have all these fluffy bunny feelings for them. I'm just not going to get way extracurricular with it. You know, if I see one, sure…Giles: Will you be ready? There's so much you don't know about them, about your own powers. A vampire appears to be completely normal, until the feed is upon them. Only then do they reveal their true demonic visage.Buffy: You're like a textbook with arms. I know this.

Giles: Who told you this?Buffy: This... guy. Dark, gorgeous in an annoying sort of way. I figured you two were buds.Giles: No. The Harvest. Did he say anything else? Buffy: Something about the Mouth of Hell. I really didn't like him!

Willow: I thought Xander was going to show up.Buffy: Oh, are you guys going out?Willow: No, we're just friends. We used to go out, but we broke up.Buffy: How come?Willow: He stole my Barbie. (sees the look Buffy's giving her) Oh, we were five.

(looking in her mirror)Buffy(holding an outfit in front of herself): Hi, I'm an enormous slut! (holds another outfit in front of herself) Hello, would you like a copy of The Watchtower? (puts both outfits down) I used to be so good at this.

Giles: I believe this whole area is a center of mystical energy, that things gravitate towards it that you wouldn't find elsewhere.Buffy: Like vampires.Giles: Zombies, werewolves, incubi, succubi – everything you've ever dreamt was under your bed but told yourself couldn't be by the light of day. They're all real.Buffy: What, you, like, sent away for the Time/Life series?Giles: Uh, w-well, yes.Buffy: Did you get the free phone?Giles: Uh, the calendar.Buffy: Cool.

Cordelia(to Buffy after finding her with Willow, Xander, and Jesse): I don't mean to interrupt your downward mobility, but I just wanted to tell you that you won't be meeting Coach Foster – the woman with the chest hair – because gym was cancelled due to the extreme dead guy in the locker.Buffy: What?Willow: What are you talking about?Cordelia: Some guy was stuffed in Aura's locker.Buffy: Dead?Cordelia: Totally dead. Way dead.Xander: So not just a little dead, then?

Xander: So what do you do for fun? What do you like, what do you look for in a man? Let's hear it.Jesse: If you have any dark, painful secrets you'd like us to publish…Buffy: Gee, everyone wants to know about me. How keen.Xander: Well, not much goes on in a one-Starbucks town like Sunnydale. You're pretty big news.

(talking to Buffy)Jesse: Oh, you know, we wanted to welcome you, make you feel at home – unless you have a scary home.Xander(holding up Buffy's stake that she dropped earlier): And to return this. The only thing I can think is that you're building a really little fence.

Buffy: Look, I really want to get by here. New school. And Cordelia's been really nice… to me, anyway… but, um, I kind of have this burning desire not to flunk all my classes and, I heard a rumor that you were the person to talk to if I wanted to get caught up.Willow: Oh, I could totally help you out. Uh, if you have sixth period free, we could meet in the library.Buffy: Or not. Uh, we could meet someplace quieter. Louder. Uh, that place just kind of gives me the wiggins.Willow: Oh, it has that effect on most kids. I love it, though. It's a great collection, and the new librarian is really cool.Buffy: He's new?Willow: Yeah, he just started. He was curator at some British museum or–or THE British Museum. I'm not sure, but he knows everything, and he brought all these historical volumes and biographies, and am I the single dullest person alive?

Cordelia: Of course, we do have to test your coolness factor. You're from L.A., so you can skip the written, but let's see. Vamp nail polish?Buffy: Um, over?Cordelia: So over. James Spader?Buffy: He needs to call me.Cordelia: Frappuccinos?Buffy: Trendy, but tasty.Cordelia: John Tesh.Buffy: The Devil.Cordelia: That was pretty much a gimme, but you passed.Buffy: Oh, good.

Xander: Hey, Jesse. What's what?Jesse: New girl.Xander: That's right. I saw her. Pretty much a hottie.Willow: I heard someone was transferring.Xander: (to Jesse) So tell.Jesse: Tell what?Xander: What's the sitch? What do you know about her?Jesse: New girl.Xander: Well, you're certainly a fount of nothing.

Giles: A, a Slayer slays, a Watcher...Buffy: ...watches?Giles: Yes. No! He, he trains her, he, he, he prepares her...Buffy: Prepares me for what? For getting kicked out of school? For losing all of my friends? For having to spend all of my time fighting for my life and never getting to tell anyone because I might endanger them? Go ahead! Prepare me.

Buffy: Uh, Hi! Willow, right?Willow: Why? I-I mean, hi! Uh, did you want me to move?Buffy: Why don't we start with, 'Hi, I'm Buffy,' and, uh, then let's segue directly into me asking you for a favor. It doesn't involve moving, but it does involve hanging out with me for a while.Willow: But aren't you hanging out with Cordelia?Buffy: I can't do both?Willow: Not legally.

Xander: Well, uh, maybe I'll see you around... maybe at school... since we... both... go there.Buffy: Great! It was nice to meet you.Xander: (unimpressed with how he spoke) We both go to school. Very suave. Very not pathetic. Oh, hey! Hey, you forgot your... stake?

Principal Flutie: Welcome to Sunnydale! A clean slate, Buffy, that's what you get here. What's past is past. We're not interested in what it says on a piece of paper, even if it says... (reads) Whoa!Buffy: Mr. Flutie...Mr. Flutie: All the kids here are free to call me Bob.Buffy: Bob--Mr. Flutie: But they don't.

Xander: Can you help me out tonight, please, be my study buddy?Willow: Well, what's in it for me?Xander: A shiny nickel!Willow: Okay. Do you have 'Theories in Trig'? You should check it out.Xander: Check it out?Willow: From the library? Where the books live.Xander: Right, I'm there! See, I wanna change...

Angel: Truth is, I thought you'd be taller, or bigger muscles and all that. You're pretty spry, though.Buffy: What do you want?Angel: The same thing you do.Buffy: Okay. What do I want?Angel: To kill them. To kill them all.

Luke: And like a plague of boils the race of man covered the Earth. But on the third day of the newest light will come the Harvest, when the blood of men will flow as wine - when the Master will walk among them once more. The earth will belong to the Old Ones... and Hell itself will come to town.

Buffy: Now, we can do this the hard way or... well, actually, there's just the hard way.Darla: That's fine with me.Buffy: Are you sure? Now, this is not going to be pretty. We're talking about violence, strong language, adult content.

Buffy: Well, my philosophy – do you want to hear my philosophy?Willow: Yeah, I do.Buffy: Life is short.Willow: Life is short.Buffy: Not original, I'll grant you, but it's true. You know, why waste time being all shy and why worried about some guy and if he's gonna laugh at you? Seize the moment 'cause tomorrow you might be dead.Willow: Oh, that's nice.

Darla: Who the hell are you?Buffy: You mean there's actually someone in this town who doesn't know already? Whew, that's a relief, I'm telling you! Having a secret identity in this town is a job of work.

Alyson Hannigan was convinced that she had been so terrible in her first scene at the Bronze, that she had ruined the entire show. That convinced Joss Whedon that she was insane since he thought she had been wonderful in it.

This episode is the only time when we see Xander on a skateboard because the scene needed a lot of space and was hard to shoot. In later episodes we can see Xander holding a skateboard a couple of times, but never again does he ride one.

In the original screenplay, the nightmare Buffy has before her first day at Sunnydale High was all about the Master instead of the montage which is in the final version. In the script, the Master says the following to Buffy: I'll take you...like a cancer...I'll get inside you and eat my way out...

This and "Harvest" are two of the few episodes that feature the upper level of the Bronze. Joss Whedon wrote the script to feature the two levels, but didn't realize how difficult it would be to shoot these scenes. Not only was it impractical in terms of filming and lighting, but it increased the budget and at the time their budget was almost non-existent.

Featured Music:Anti-Heroes by Shake the Faith - When Joyce drives Buffy to school.Saturated by Sprung Monkey - When Buffy is getting dressed before going to the Bronze.Believe by Sprung Monkey - When Buffy enters the Bronze for the first time.Swirl by Sprung Monkey - At the Bronze.Things Are Changing by Sprung Monkey - When Buffy leaves the Bronze to look for Willow.

When the library scene between Buffy and Giles was originally shot, Sarah Michelle Gellar portrayed Buffy with much more bitterness and hostility than she intended for the character.After the entire season was filmed, but before it aired, Sarah Michelle Gellar spoke to Joss Whedon about her concern. Upon reviewing the footage, he decided to reshoot her close-ups to tone the performance down. Thus, some of the scenes in this first episode were the very last things filmed in the entire season.

Before the first American airing of this episode, there was a promo spot which referred to two previous Slayers: Lucy Hanover, (Virginia, 1866) and an unidentified Chicago woman, in 1927. The promo was never shown in any of the overseas premieres of this episode nor does it appear to have been repeated before any subsequent airings of this, or any other episode.

For the entire first season, the sets for the interior of Sunnydale High School consisted of one hallway with two rooms (the library and a classroom) attached to it. It was constantly reshot from different angles to make every hall seem different.

According to the original script, the Master's real name is Heinrich Joseph Nest, and it states that he has been a vampire for approximately 600 years. Unfortunately, this was never mentioned onscreen.

When the initial score for the credit sequence didn't work out, it was Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg) who suggested that Joss look at the band Nerf Herder. Their version of the theme song captured what Joss Whedon was hoping to express, and the rest is history.

Joss Whedon had originally planned for viewers to never see Buffy's parents, but quickly realized that could become complicated. He wrote in Buffy's mom, Joyce (Kristine Sutherland), who would become an important character for the rest of the series.

Joss Whedon has said that originally he wanted to include Eric Balfour (Jesse) in the opening credits for this episode, to trick viewers into thinking that he is a regular character, only to shock them by having him killed. It was eventually decided that this idea would take too much time (having to develop alternative opening credits for use with just this one episode) and was dropped.

Buffy: (holds an outfit in front of herself) Hello, would you like a copy of The Watchtower?

Buffy here refers to the prim and proper appearance of the dress and compares it to Jehovah's Witnesses. Witnesses are a Christian sect which relies heavily on door-to-door prosetylization. Church representatives dress very formally and often try to sell subscriptions to their church magazine which is called "The Watchtower."

Buffy: Live in the now, okay? You look like DeBarge. A reference to the 80's pop music group DeBarge. Made up of five siblings and with aspirations to be a new The Jackson 5, they only wound up with one hit, 1985's "Rhythm of the Night".

A play on the phrase a "one horse town" used to describe a small and slow placed town. Starbucks is of course the hugely popular coffee shop that can be found on every other street corner in a thriving metropolis.

The department store Sears was for years best known as a place to buy tools and appliances. In their make-over attempt to boost their clothing sales they introduced the "softer side of Sears" slogan. As Cordelia is quick to point out however, Sears has not become the first choice of the fashionably dressed.

The first of the British cultural references from Giles. Bovril is a food substance that can be spread on toast or made into a hot drink among other things. It's been described as "liquid cow" and is apparently extremely salty.

Time-Life publishes series of books on varied topics. This line most likely refers to the now out of print series "Mysteries of the Unknown" which focused on the occult and was still being heavily advertised at the time this episode first aired.

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